Engage your kindergartners with the wild side by getting them to look at life sciences. Ecosystems are all around them, including the insects in the classroom, the birds and animals on school grounds and the processes that occur in their own bodies. Show your young scientists the intriguing and educational life cycle of frogs by setting up an aquarium in your classroom. Populate your aquarium with frogs eggs and allow kindergartners to draw pictures of the changes in the tank once each few days for at least a month. Students will observe frogs change from spawn to tadpoles and tadpoles to baby frogs before reaching adulthood. Make sure you feed the frogs with small pieces of leftover meat, which is necessary once they are at the tadpole stage and have consumed their own egg shells.
Finding a chemistry experiment that is safe and suitable for kindergartners can be challenging. Chemistry often involves mixing potentially hazardous chemicals using specialized equipment, all of which goes beyond the kindergarten curriculum, so you should lead youngsters through demonstrations. One example of a simple, safe chemistry project removes the moisture and bacteria from an apple, creating a "mummified" apple, using chemicals. Gather kids around as you take a regular apple and decorate it using a Popsicle stick so it has eyes, a nose and a mouth. Push the stick into the base of the apple so it becomes the body to the apple's face. Mix 1/4 cup of salt and 1/2 cup of bicarbonate of soda and sodium carbonate in a zip-lock freezer bag before placing the Popsicle stick apple inside and sealing. Kindergartners will observe a shriveled, dried-out apple that has not decayed, as there are no bacteria or moisture present.
Kindergarten physics should focus on the simple aspects of this scientific discipline, such as basic electricity, gravity, momentum, magnets and the solar system. Get your students thinking about density and how salt affects water through this demonstration. Gather young scientists around the laboratory's main table with a tall, wide-mouthed glass 3/4 filled with regular tap water. Tell your kindergartners you are going to place an egg in the water and ask them what they expect will happen by showing their hands. Once they observe the egg sink, fish it out and add 2 tbsp. of salt before asking for a second set of predictions. Place the egg in the water once more and students will observe the egg floating, due to the change in the water's density.
Overriding all of your kindergarten science experiments should be an element of health and safety. Although kindergartners will not be involved in any dangerous scientific situations, you should use science experiments as an opportunity to introduce the health and safety basics to your young scientists. Get your kindergartners used to a health and safety routine in the laboratory, including practicing fire (and other evacuation) drills and wearing laboratory coats, rubber gloves and safety goggles.